“Let’s not waste any more time,” Quinn whispered. “Vegas? What do you think??”
He held up his arm and looked at his watch.
“If we leave now, we could be there tonight,” Quinn pointed out. She kissed him again, long and hungrily.
“Wait a minute,” Reif gasped when he came back up for air. This was going too fast. “Let me think for a minute.”
“Thinking’s overrated. We could be in a hotel bed.” Quinn rocked against him suggestively. “Together. Tonight.”
“Stop. Just give me a minute.”
Quinn laid her head on his shoulder. Reif closed his eyes, willing himself not to think with his cock. From the moment he’d walked through the door there’d been more going on than he could take in. He’d stared at the news and had a flash of what he’d miss if indeed he’d been in that crash. His family, of course. His sisters. His parents. But Quinn overlaid everything else. He’d regret what might have been with her.
He wound a lock of her air around his finger. She sighed and burrowed closer. “It’s okay. I know spontaneity isn’t your thing.”
“Hey, I’m the guy who proposed to you after one night. It doesn’t get more spontaneous than that.”
“I think we both know that was more some ancient code of honor thing you were doing.”
“I suppose. Think you can live with an unspontaneous guy with an ancient code of honor?”
Quinn straightened so she could look into his eyes. “Definitely.”
“I’m not marrying you on a whim, you know. I’ve thought about it since our first morning together. And it only got stronger every day after that. It’s got nothing to do with Tony, or feeling guilty about what happened or because I feel responsible for you. I’m in love with you. I want to be with you. Forever.”
“Me too.”
“Maybe you should take some more time—”
“Nope.”
“You’re sure.”
“Positive.”
Chapter Seventeen
Once out of the city, Reif reached for Quinn’s hand. He laced his fingers through hers and steered one-handed. Every once in a while he’d glance at her and say, “Second thoughts?”
“Still no. You?”
“No.”
Or,
“It’s not too late to back out, you know.”
“I’m not the one talking about backing out. Do you want to?”
“No.”
Or,
“Still think you’re in love with me?”
“Since five minutes ago? Pretty sure. What about you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
And finally,
“What about—”
“If you don’t stop asking me questions I’m jumping out of the car and hitchhiking. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Of course that didn’t stop him from one last comment.
“Last chance,” he warned her as they approached the Las Vegas city limits.
“Thanks for the warning. Now drive.”
Just then Reif swerved off the road and into a McDonald’s parking lot. His jaw clenched and he banged his hand against the steering wheel.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked alarmed.
“We can’t get married.”
“What? Why?”
Reif turned toward her. “We need ID.”
“I have ID. Did you forget yours?”
“No. Q, that’s one of the ways the mob can find you. It’s not that hard to get your driver’s license number and plug it into a search program. If it pops up anywhere, for a speeding ticket or a marriage license, you’re on their radar.”
“So? What’s it going to tell them? That I live in Florida? That I got married in Vegas? We’re not staying here.”
“It will tell them you got married to me.”
“Oh. I guess we might as well draw them a map then.”
“Pretty much.”
She’d turned away from Reif to stare out the window.
“Say something,” Reif said.
She couldn’t. She couldn’t get beyond her disappointment. She wanted to scream at the unfairness. It wasn’t that they couldn’t get married, it was what that fact represented. If they got married they’d be on the run. If they didn’t get married she’d still be in hiding. This had been a spontaneous adventure, a glimpse into the life she wanted with him, only to face the harsh reality: she couldn’t afford to be like that. Her life consisted of buying things with cash only, getting paid under the table, and never taking the same route to work twice.
“Q.” He touched her shoulder.
“Go away.” Her voice came out low and lifeless.
“No.” He moved closer, slid his arm across her shoulders. “Look at me. Talk to me.”
“It’s not fair.”
“When this is over—” Reif tried.
“When this is over? Who’s to say it ever will be? Or that I’ll live to see it? Maybe they won’t even bother trying to find me again. They might simply wait until the trial starts and I’m brought back to testify. That’s when I’m an easy target.”
“You don’t know that—wait. Find you again?”
“I was in a safe house when it was compromised. That’s why Tony sent me here.”
“Wait. Why were you in a safe house?”
“Because I’m a witness.”
“You must have witnessed something pretty important to rate a safe house.”
When Quinn didn’t deny it, he said, “Holy shit. You were there in that garage. You saw everything and they know it. You didn’t think I deserved to know that?”
“I didn’t want you to know because I needed my freedom more. But as you said, a lie of omission is still a lie. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’m sorry.”
“Yet you wanted me to keep you safe. How did you expect me to do that when I didn’t know how high the threat level is?”
“Don’t you get it? I was in a safe house and I wasn’t safe there!”
Reif said nothing for a moment.
“That’s why you say safety’s an illusion.”
“You understand?”
Reif nodded. “I’m a security consultant. I know even the best precautions can be circumvented. There are never any foolproof guarantees. Limiting freedom generally does nothing but create more fear.”
“Exactly.”
“Q, I can’t marry you if I can’t trust you.”
“I know. I understand. It was wrong of me and unfair to you. But I just wanted…” She raised a hand and let it drop. “I wanted to have my life be my own.”
Reif slumped back into his seat and draped his wrists across the steering wheel. He stared out the window for a long time before he looked her way again. “Want to know what I’m thinking?”
“That it’s my turn to drive?”
“I was thinking what if you’d said yes that first morning when I suggested we get married. Or if you’d said yes any of the other times I teased you about it after that.”
“Then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“Exactly. I’d have already married you. For better or worse. There’s something seriously wrong with me because the weird thing is I still want to.”
He gave her a searching look before he dug into his pocket and removed a narrow key. He reached for her hand and turned the security bracelet on her wrist so he could unlock it. He tossed it into the back seat.
“Let’s do it.”
Quinn kissed him. “See, this is why I love you.”
* * * * *
The Bellagio had a honeymoon suite available.
Quinn hissed when she heard the price for an overnight stay. “We don’t have to stay here, you know.”
“We’ll only have one honeymoon,” Reif assu
red her. He smiled at the clerk and handed over his American Express Platinum card.
“If you can have our bags taken up,” he told the clerk, “we have some shopping to do.”
“Certainly, sir.” Reif tipped the bellhop and steered Quinn to the boutiques across the lobby.
“What are we shopping for?” Quinn asked.
“A dress for you.”
“I’m wearing a dress.”
“A wedding dress.”
“Reif, that’s a ridiculous waste of money, especially if you buy it here—”
Reif brought them to a stop and put a finger over her lips. “Let me do this. We’ll have another wedding, in a church, because I’m pretty sure Tony and your father are going to insist on it. But this is our wedding, just you and me.”
“I know,” Quinn mumbled against his finger.
“It’s no big deal what suit and tie I wear, as long as it’s black. But I want you to have something that looks like a wedding dress, even if it isn’t.”
If Quinn hadn’t already been warming to the idea of shopping for a new dress, the look in Reif’s eyes would have won her over. “Okay.”
“Shoes, too.”
“Shoes, too.”
“And a bouquet.”
“Of course.”
“And pictures.”
“Well, without them, what’s the point of the dress and the bouquet?”
“Exactly,” he whispered. He kissed her. Her toes tingled. From that moment on she floated. Right up until she was supposed to walk down the aisle of the Bellagio’s East Wedding Chapel.
Reif was there along with an older gentleman to perform the ceremony and a young woman who would serve as a witness. Quinn paused at the threshold in her new dress and strappy high-heels, clutching her bouquet of creamy roses.
I’m getting married. To Reif Callaghan. This is it. He’ll be my husband. Forever.
It was a sobering thought. An adult thought. Suddenly Quinn wasn’t sure she was enough of an adult to be married. It froze her in her tracks. She couldn’t move.
Reif stood next to the podium, hands clasped in front of him. He smiled at her as the terror sunk in. She really couldn’t move. At all. She beckoned to him. Reif said something to the others and came down the aisle to her. He took her hand. It was like ice in his.
“What is it?”
“What if I blow it?”
“You can’t blow it. All you have to do is say ‘I do’ and sign your name.”
“No. What if I blow being married to you? What if I screw it up? If I’m selfish and mean or if I do something really bad that you can’t forgive and you end up hating me—” Quinn was starting to hyperventilate. Her stomach twisted itself into a knot.
“Quinn. Quinn?” Reif slid his knuckles across her cheek. “You won’t screw it up. There’s nothing you could do I wouldn’t forgive. As long as you promise never to do it again, that is.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hey, what if I’m the one who screws up? We take a chance on each other. We take it together.”
“I know, but—”
“It’s not too late to back out. If you’re not ready,” Reif reminded her.
Quinn looked around at the chapel, at her dress, her flowers. At Reif who was looking at her with such love in his eyes, such patience in his voice.
“I don’t want to back out. I just, I don’t know, panicked there for a minute. I don’t want to make you unhappy.”
“Quinn. You just keep on being you. That’s what makes me happy.”
She smiled, a weight lifted off her chest. “Well, at least I can promise to do that.”
“Want me to walk you down the aisle?”
“I’d like that.”
The ceremony was a blur. Simple and quick. Quinn stared at the ring he produced when the officiate asked. It was a ring almost exactly like the one she’d lingered over in the jewelry store weeks ago. Reif winked.
He slid the ring on her finger and they were pronounced man and wife. Part of Quinn thought the kiss that followed lasted longer than the entire ceremony. She didn’t want it to end. She wanted to stand here in Reif’s arms and kiss him forever. But a throat clearing for a second time ended it.
She signed the forms and smiled for the photographer.
* * * * *
When they exited the chapel, Reif said, “I ordered something from room service but we can go to dinner if you’d like—”
“No. The honeymoon starts right now.” Quinn dragged Reif down to the elevators, and once inside they resumed their interrupted kiss.
When the doors opened on their floor Reif finally came up for air. “What I said? About you being you? This is what I was talking about.”
Reif opened the honeymoon suite and swung Quinn up into his arms. He kicked the door closed behind them and set her down on the bed.
There was one bedside light burning. Quinn barely noticed the rose petals scattered across the turned down linens or the serving cart heaped with covered dishes and champagne chilling.
All that mattered was Reif and the way he looked at her. He held her head in his hands and when he kissed her she dropped her bouquet.
He wasn’t in any hurry to move on. Not the way she thought he’d be. Not the way she thought she’d be, either. She’d imagined them tearing each other’s clothes off. She’d teased Reif for weeks, pushed him to what she thought must be the limit of his endurance, but he kissed her now like he had all the time in the world.
We do, she thought with the part of her brain that wasn’t occupied absorbing the sensation of his lips on hers. They had all the time in the world.
“What?” Reif mumbled against her lips because he must have felt them smile beneath his.
“So far, I like being married to you.”
“Me too.” He kissed her some more. “Think we’ve got our money’s worth out of this dress?”
“I think so. That’s a lot of under-the-table pizza money there.”
He slid the zipper down and the creamy silk dress slid to the floor.
Reif gazed at her. “Did I spring for some new underwear, too?”
“You sure did.” She spun so the short slip whirled around her thighs. “Worth it?”
“I’d say so.” He kept his eyes on her while he loosened his tie and yanked it off and threw his jacket over a nearby chair.
“What’s underneath this?” He asked grinning down at her.
“More underwear.” She gave him a devilish grin of her own and yanked the slip off over her head, revealing a lacy white bra and panty set.
He stood close enough to rest both hands on her hips. “Very nice.”
“And what have you got under here?” she asked innocently as she started unbuttoning his shirt.
“Same old thing.”
“It’s not old.” She pressed a kiss to his chest. “It’s you.” She kissed her way along his throat while he shrugged out of his shirt.
“Quinn.” He tilted her head back and kissed her. So much for all the time in the world. He pressed hard against her. She undid his belt, button, zipper. His pants hit the floor, pooling around his ankles.
Her bra came off at the moment they fell onto the bed. Reif kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks and then they were even.
He propped himself on an elbow and caressed her breasts, teasing the peaks. She watched him, her fingers clenching the sheet beneath her. She watched as he dropped his head and took a nipple into his mouth. Fire roared through her at the same time a wave of tenderness overtook her. She touched his hair, his shoulder, wherever she could. He moved his mouth to her other breast and she started to tremble.
Reif moved over her. Her legs parted so he could rest between them, that huge, hard part of him pressed against her brand new panties.
She could go
on like this forever, Reif’s mouth doing all kinds of wonderful things while his cock pressed against her through those thin layers of fabric.
He’d accused her more than once of driving him crazy but now he was the driver. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him to touch her where she needed to be touched, except she wasn’t quite sure where that was because everywhere he touched felt so damn good.
He moved away and slid his hand under her panties, his fingers sliding against the wet heat he’d created. It was wonderful and maddening and frustrating and wonderful again until he withdrew his fingers and she almost cried “no” until she realized he was drawing those pretty panties away from her, down her legs and then they were gone and so were his boxer briefs.
She opened herself to him again. He touched her, first with his fingers, and then with his tongue. Time screamed past while an orgasm whipped through her.
She lost all sense of time and place as the wild pulsing wound down to be replaced by another sensation, that of Reif filling her. She gasped as he drove in. She drew her knees up and locked her arms and legs around him. Time slowed again while he stayed there, throbbing inside of her while they kissed.
But when he started to move, Quinn was ready and they fell into sync with one another. She took everything he had to give, welcomed it, loved it and when it was over he collapsed on top of her.
Her arms were still around him. She feathered her fingers through his hair and stroked his back. She was happy. She was sated. She was exhausted. She was…dang, she was hungry as hell.
She looked longingly at the room service cart but had no strength to go anywhere near it at the moment.
* * * * *
Vinnie double-clicked the email alert and studied the contents. He frowned. He would have to double-check his program and the alerts he’d requested. Maybe this was an old record? The very last place he’d expected Quinn Fontana to use her driver’s license was in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But this was the best lead he had. What was more, it appeared to be legit. His nose quivered in excitement. He had to check it out. He might be gone for a while, and he sure as hell didn’t trust the kennels with his ferrets.
He looked down at his two furry buddies and smiled. “Hey guys? Want to take a little trip?”
Fantasy Man Page 14